February 20 '06: About 1,500 people have been living and eating for free on ships contracted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency since Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast in August 2005.

The Associated Press reported Monday that along with the displaced families, police and first-responders who have been working in New Orleans - who are also on the ship - will be relocated to federal sponsored housing. FEMA said all housing on the ships docked in New Orleans are to be cleared by March 1 so that the commercial vessels can resume their regular schedules. FEMA also said of the families still without housing who are living on the ships that, "it would provide trailers, either at the person's house or in a group site, or pay for them to stay at a 117-unit apartment complex in the eastern part of the city for up to 18 months."

FEMA trailers will be given to police and first responders and "will check each one to make sure it has electricity, water and sewage," a federal official from FEMA told the AP.

March 1 has been the deadline for evacuees from Hurricane Katrina-affected areas to find new homes. The Los Angeles Times reported Monday that in California about half of the total 1,000 evacuees are still in Orange County and the surrounding area. In total, the state took in about 17,000 people.

To help those seeking housing, food and clothing, donations adding up to about $500,000 have come in bit there is still the question of where to live after federal funding ends, the LA Times reported. "Once hotel assistance ends, evacuees will be eligible for long-term temporary housing, in the form of trailers, condominiums or manufactured housing," the LA Times wrote.